Relative Due Dates

We are deciding on options for project management. We are creating a master project template - about 100 tasks. The due dates are all relative to the master release date for each project. Is there a way to set up the template with our specific timelines (same for each project). When the template is used for a project - the task due dates will auto populate based on the project release date. Also - sometimes the release date changes - so, these would need to be relative/dynamic to that date and automatically update. Would LOVE this feature to be added!

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It does not exist in Asana (yet).
However Templana is doing something like this if you host a template with us, you can tell for each task how many days after the template load date it is due (pardon my English, might not be that clear :thinking:)

@danielguajardok anything on the Instagantt side?

Instagantt has something like this. Any project can be used to be duplicated (there’s a button on the right toolbar). It will ask you for a new name, and a new start date. That will shift all dates and start dates of all tasks and subtasks to match the new start of the project :slight_smile:

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Another method would be to use CSV Import and and use date math in your date field formulas in Google Sheets or Excel. I think there are ways to avoid weekends also in Excel, would have to check that out.

Would really appreciate this feature!

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Hi there,

my team is working on projects that all follow a similar timeline. We use a GANTT chart to update the start and end dates based on a final date and import the information via the .csv importer. But in this case, we cannot include tags and comments. Is there a way to automatically set the dates for a new project given a due date for the whole project in Asana? Or can information like tags etc. be included within the csv. file and the incorporated in Asana?

Thanks in advance for any reply!

Cheers,
Niklas

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Sure there is a very easy solution for this:

Build your project with a final task labelled [DEADLINE}, and all your milestones spaced before that as you need.

Save as template. Make a new project with this template. You want the same tasks relative to the due dat, but a different du date, so go into timeline view, select all your tasks and just drag them to the position where [DEADLINE] lands on the new project’s deadline.

or have i missed a level of complexity in what you’re trying to achieve?

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Thats exactly what I have done @Justin_Beardsell and it works ok. the only problem is that Asana have limited you to only selecting 50 tasks. We have over 50 tasks spread over a 10 month project lifetime, so it makes it very annoying when you have to select parts of your project individually and try and make sure they all line up with their respective dates.

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I work on a specific type of project that has a fluctuating completion date based on tasks that are fully outside the scope of my project team. The current project management “system” involves manually changing due dates based on the new backoff/completion date.

I’m looking for the ability to create a due that that’s relative to the backoff date. If the completion date is backoff date minus 3 weeks, I want to auto-change the due date of a task based on this new completion date…kind of like a reverse dependency. This would be really helpful for completion dates that change mid-project and also for quickly creating a new project schedule from a template.

This isn’t possible, is it?

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@Darla_Sasaki no that type of workflow of due dates is not possible within Asana at the moment. You would need some sort of trigger and integration built to achieve that.

Jason.

Hi @Darla_Sasaki and thanks for reaching out! We already have a similar post on this topic, so I’ve gone ahead and merged your post with this main thread. Have a look at the comments above, you might find siome useful :slight_smile:

What does “host a template with us” mean?

It means sharing your project with me so I can create a template available for download on Templana.com.

Flowsana now provides such a relative-date automation capability.

You could even combine that with a Templana template. (Hey, @Bastien_Siebman, we should discuss that further!)

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Is there a way that when we mark a task as completed it changed the due date to the date it was marked as completed? When we mark a task completed and we do not changed the due date then it shows under the portfolios as red because its due date is in the future, but the task has been completed.

Hi :wave:

I am confused because portfolios only show projects and not tasks. Can you share a screenshot?

You can’t automatically change the due date of a task when completed. Not natively anyway.

Yes portfolios show the projects. If you select the workload tab it shows you a timeline and how each of your team members are doing. For example I have a week that is red meaning that I have too many tasks that week based on my hours. When I select a point in time under the red, it breaks down my tasks so I can see them. When I look at them I see that they are down, but the due date is making them still appear.

I was completely not on point, indeed workload shows tasks :man_facepalming: So basically you would like the due date to automatically be changed to the completion date?

Yes that would be great.

Diana

I remember someone having the same request, maybe the admin will be able to merge the discussions.